Carioca sailing

Some have noticed the pictures of the battered Carioca Class sailboat which I have posted earlier. One of them was Gustavo Pacheco, who is also fond of this fine little classic sailboat. And he has contributed (again) by sending a nice picture of a Carioca sailing in the Bay of Botafogo. Thanks!

As some might know, the initial project name of my boat was “Carioca”. I chose the project name for various reasons. One of them was to create a reference and memory of this simple and quick little boat. The rig I had first deigned looked very much like this, fully battened Carioca rig. They once had a fairly strong fleet in Rio de Janeiro, and an active racing class association.

Until now I have found it very difficult to find Carioca pictures. One of the reasons is that “Carioca” is the name we give to persons which are native from Rio de Janeiro. Therefore a search in the internet gives thousands of hits for “Carioca”. But finding boats among the hits is a challenge.

Cariocas are a rarity these days. We had one in my Guanabara Club, where I leave my Arara canoe. It was in desperate condition and has been cut up to pieces… Very few have survived, partly due to their very light construction. Their hulls were constructed by riveting planks against steam bent frames. These rivets corroded away in time. Many Cariocas have therefore been glassed over.

Lower image from: www.revistamaremar.com.br